Hi guys. Thanks for helping me out with any advice. Anyway, I'm facing the looming NYU scholarship acceptance deadline tomorrow (extension request denied) and tomorrow will be forced to make a choice between my two current options:

Michigan (full Darrow)NYU ($50k/60k if I do public interest)

And because NYU requires withdrawal from all other acceptances with the first deposit, there's no way I can hang on to both of these options. I've still yet to hear from Harvard (held), Stanford (no word yet), and Columbia (held), and would consider any of them depending on the offer. I've heard that Columbia will sometimes consider scholarships from NYU, but I doubt they'd do that if I've already lost my NYU scholarship after tomorrow.

So, is NYU worth considering to the tune of roughly $150,000 over U-M, considering high cost of living and the gap of tuition? Obviously it is a better school in some respects, but is it THAT much better? I went to both school's admitted student/Preview weekends and thought very highly of both.

Another factor is that my fiance is going to be in New York and being in NYC would allow us to be in close proximity, which will certainly improve my quality of life. If I end up in Ann Arbor, 3 years of long distance would put a very serious strain on the relationship.

I guess in the end I'm asking if it'd be incredibly stupid to turn down the Darrow for NYU regardless of any other circumstances.

carterth wrote:Another factor is that my fiance is going to be in New York and being in NYC would allow us to be in close proximity, which will certainly improve my quality of life. If I end up in Ann Arbor, 3 years of long distance would put a very serious strain on the relationship.

When do you plan on getting married? If soon and they ain't moving, NYU. If "sometime after law school," having a fiance for 3+ years is kind of crazy and not a great bet, so I'd say Michigan with the money.

When I read the title of your post, (frigging awesome decision versus another awesome decision), I was just going to reply: "Vomit. If you have these options you should be bright enough to make your own decisions." But THEN I saw that you'd called Michigan Hogwarts.... and it really does look like that... and I got distracted thinking about how I had to withdraw my Michigan acceptance... =(

carterth wrote:Another factor is that my fiance is going to be in New York and being in NYC would allow us to be in close proximity, which will certainly improve my quality of life. If I end up in Ann Arbor, 3 years of long distance would put a very serious strain on the relationship.

When do you plan on getting married? If soon and they ain't moving, NYU. If "sometime after lawl skool," having a fiance for 3+ years is kind of crazy and not a great bet, so I'd say Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry with the money.

I don't think there is any way NYU is worth that much more than Michigan, education/opportunities wise.

Your fiancé makes things difficult, though. I would try and think of it this way - are you willing to spend about $100,000 to be with your fiancé for three years? (That's not supposed to be an obvious answer.) Also, is there no possibility of him moving to Ann Arbor?

Also, this is just me, but in this situation I'd feel annoyed at NYU for being such a little bitch about deadlines, and not want to go there.

kurla88 wrote:I don't think there is any way NYU is worth that much more than Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry, education/opportunities wise.

Your fiancé makes things difficult, though. I would try and think of it this way - are you willing to spend about $100,000 to be with your fiancé for three years? (That's not supposed to be an obvious answer.) Also, is there no possibility of him moving to Ann Arbor?

Also, this is just me, but in this situation I'd feel annoyed at NYU for being such a little bitch about deadlines, and not want to go there.

Agreed with this, except OP said NYU will cost 150,000 more...which makes the situation even more ridiculous.

Try to get the fiance to move there, but if not...I did LDR all 4 years of undergrad. It's hard in some respects, but for $150,000 (counting this as 150k since the 100k is contingent, and it is also PV, so FV, assuming X interest rate and n years, at least 220k+), I would definitely do it again.

Keep in mind, while NYU may have more Big Law opportunities than HSWW, I know a guy who went to HSWW and he makes tons of money right now. Plus if you didn't get into Harvard, it really doesn't matter because your screwed either way (after all, most Harvard grads are destitute in the streets looking for jobs).

So I would go HSWW with the money. You can't beat free law school.

Good luck.

P.S.

I don't know if this matters to you or not (it really depends on your political leanings), but I heard the dean of HSWW is gay.

Thank you all for your concern and advices. Unfortunately, my fiance is in a situation where she wouldn't be able to move in next 3 years and so I have just decided to reject the Darrow and put a deposit in NYU. I also just filed in an appeal for more $ from NYU (only if I thought of this earlier, things would've been much less complicated . . ), but since I've given up the Darrow already, I am not sure if that could work as an incentive anymore.